Why Your Breath Smells Like Nail Polish Remover on the Keto Diet

Does your breath smell sharp enough to scorch the nail polish right off your fingers? Your diet might be to blame. According to some very surprised pioneers of the ketogenic diet, also known as the keto diet, the weight loss regimen makes your mouth taste toxic. The taste and smell of nail polish remover was common enough in keto communities to get its own name: keto breath.

If that smell sounds familiar, you’re not alone. And there’s a perfectly rational explanation as to why this is happening to your mouth.

It has to do with ketosis — the “fat-burning” state your body resorts to when you deprive it of carbs. The theory behind the keto diet relies on eliminating most carbohydrates from your diet, forcing the body to resort to fat for fuel. Keto believers think that this will result in weight loss. And for some people short-term, it does. Long-term results are TBD.

But as your body enters a state of ketosis, it starts breaking down fats. (Usually the body prefers to break down sugars for energy, instead.) It transforms these fats into ketones, which include beta hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, and acetone.

Besides the keto diet, other scenarios that result in ketone production include fasting, starvation, prolonged and intense exercise, alcoholism, and untreated Type 1 diabetes. In the case of Type 1 diabetes, the chemicals are not so harmless; if you get keto breath without trying the diet, you’ll want to get to a doctor right away.

The stench is sometimes referred to as “fruity,” but often described as smelling similar to nail polish remover. Some dieters don’t mind the smell.

when you're in keto, your body releases acetone through your mouth so I am going to breathe on my nails to take my nail polish off :)